The interior of the lid is engraved: Donnée / par le Roi The Paris control marks on this box, 1809– 1819, pre-date the accession of the Comte d’Artois to the throne of France. As there appears to be no evidence of Montauban working after 1819 – he may have either retired or died – the jewelled, crowned cipher of Charles X must have been executed by another goldsmith. At this date the use of stock snuffboxes, either complete or unfinished and awaiting bespoke embellishments, was not unusual. Indeed, it was the only solution when large orders were received at short notice for the presentation boxes bestowed at coronations and other important occasions. The finishing was most probably managed by the retailers whose names are sometimes engraved on the box rims, among them Gibert, Marguerite and Pitaux.

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